I took my 2nd sojourn of the summer across half the US to see my mother who has recently gone into a nursing home. My internet and phone connections were very limited as I took Rimrock Stage, which does not have WIFI and phone chargers like some of the East Coast Greyhounds. What they do have is soul! I had a driver who let an old vet on Oxygen off at a Motel 6 so he could go to the VA the next day. Found people in ND in particular to be very kind and human. There are some conservative values - I grew up partly in SD (which is a little different form ND) - but in those places, parts of MN, parts of WI, etc. - too many people remember a GOP that is now gone.

This is the first thing that I have seen fit to post. It was put up by Professor Juan Cole from Madison WI, for one.